It is a rare day when the New York Mets (16-15) do not have Francisco Lindor in the starting lineup. He was out of the lineup Thursday after leaving Wednesday’s game early with an illness. But the shortstop still found a way to make an impact in Thursday’s game.

Not only did Lindor have a two-run double in the sixth to help erase an early four-run deficit, but he ended up delivering a walk-off two-run double in the bottom of the 11th to give the Mets a 7-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs (19-13) and earn a split of the four-game series. 

The Cubs’ reliever, Daniel Palencia, was in his second inning of work when he hit Harrison Bader to lead off the 11th. Lindor was the next batter up and worked a 3-1 count before doubling down the left field line to win the game. 

Lindor’s heroics would have never happened if not for the defense of Starling Marte and Omar Narváez. In the top of the 10th, the Cubs had Christopher Morel at third and one out when Patrick Wisdom hit a flyball to right that Marte caught and he was able to throw out Morel at the plate. 

One inning later, Marte’s heroics were on display again when he threw out Nick Madrigal trying to score on a base hit to right by Mike Tauchman. The Cubs challenged the play, but the call stood. 

It was another below-average start from Adrian Houser on Thursday. The Cubs got on the board in the second inning due to Madrigal reaching on a fielder’s choice on a bad play by Joey Wendle, but Chicago did the bulk of its damage against the right-hander in the fifth. 

With Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ on base (single and walk respectively), Christopher Morel crushed a three-run home run to left to extend the Cubs lead to 4-0. Houser finished the inning, but that would be the end of his day after that. 

The Mets’ right-hander went five innings and allowed four runs on four hits, walked four batters, and struck out two on 82 pitches (49 strikes) in the no-decision. It is the fourth time this season that Houser has walked four or more batters in a game (six starts). 

While the Mets only got one runner on base in the first four innings against Ben Brown, they were able to break out of their offensive slump in the fifth. After Brett Baty walked and Harrison Bader singled to lead off the inning, Brandon Nimmo drove in Baty with a two-out single. The deficit was later cut in half when Starling Marte singled to center. 

Chicago would add on a run in the sixth against Dedniel Nuñez when Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled to right. The umpire arguably should have ruled him out at second base due to only his helmet touching the base on the tag, but the call was not changed. 

However, the Mets ended up rallying again in the sixth against Richard Lovelady. Lindor came off the bench and hit a two-run double to right to cut the Cubs lead to 5-4. Two batters later, it was Nimmo who delivered again with a double over the head of Happ to tie the game at five. 

On a day where the Mets did not have some of their relievers available, they were able to find contributions from other guys. Jake Diekman pitched for the second straight day and worked around a walk by getting two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh. 

Since the game was tied going into the ninth, Reed Garrett was called upon for another multi-inning outing. He threw a scoreless eighth and then walked Hoerner to lead off the ninth, which paved the way for Edwin Díaz. 

Díaz got out of trouble in the ninth, but Carlos Mendoza called on him to throw a second inning of work, but he was able to keep the game tied. He struck out two of the five batters he faced on 24 pitches (13 strikes). 

The only pitcher left for the Mets that was available was Danny Young, who was making his team debut. The 29-year-old left-hander did allow Madrigal to double to give the Cubs the 6-5 lead, but he was able to limit the damage to one run and ended up getting the first win of his professional career. 

Starting Rotation Getting Reinforcements

While the Mets are out in Florida this weekend to take on the Tampa Bay Rays, one of their top pitching prospects will make his major league debut. It was reported earlier in the day by Kiley McDaniel of ESPN that right-hander Christian Scott will be making his MLB debut on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays. In his first five starts at Triple-A Syracuse this year, he had 36 strikeouts to six walks over the course of 25 1/3 innings pitched.

Player Of The Game

After getting a day off out of the starting lineup, Lindor did a good job in coming up with timely hits off the bench. Over the last 15 games, the shortstop is starting to find his form with a slash line of .273/.322/.564 with four home runs and 13 RBIs. If he can find more consistency, then the Mets’ offense should find some more consistency of its own. 

On Deck

The Mets head on the road to begin a six-game road trip Friday night. Their first stop is in Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays. You can watch the game at 6:50 p.m ET on SNY. José Quintana (1-2, 3.48) takes the ball for the Mets against Aaron Civale (2-2, 5.06) for the Rays.